Superb Service, Unique Dining Concepts
Elevate Hotel Restaurants as Never Before
Perhaps you’ve never considered impressing a first date or a business client with cocktails at a hotel lounge. Maybe you wouldn’t dream of taking your spouse to dinner at an Embassy Suites for your wedding anniversary. If you live in Washington, D.C., however, it might be time to reconsider, because the face of hotel restaurants is changing and so is the clientele.
Hotel restaurants are the growing trend in capital-area dining and proprietors are seeking to extend their reputation beyond front desk check-in lines. Whether it’s through conceptual menus and décor, marketing strategies or just plain good service, many hotel restaurants are raising the bar and exceeding the expectations of guests and local residents alike.
One of the most notable companies in this category is the Kimpton Hotel and Restaurant Group, proprietor of Hotel Rouge, Topaz, Firefly and Monaco in Washington, D.C., as well as various other properties across the nation. Kimpton properties are commonly referred to as “boutique” hotels, and a look inside any of their restaurants will give you an understanding of the term.
Hotel Rouge, for example, features a swank,
Hollywood theme where bartenders serve cocktails with names such as “Will Smith” and “Sean Penn.” Hotel Topaz is all about kitsch a la 1950s, with white floors and walls that glow blue in the evening. The lounge menu mimics the sock-hop joints of the era, with items like the “Potato Martini, Mashed Not Stirred.”
When restaurants go out of their way to impress with aesthetics, service often takes second place—but not with Kimpton. As most people in the restaurant business often gripe about, the long, late hours put in for often-thankless tasks is enough to make anyone a little grumpy, and customers often end up experiencing the brunt of poor server attitude. But Morgan Taylor, 29, is friendly and shows no sign of fatigue, despite the fact that she is currently managing three Kimpton restaurants in Washington, D.C. What’s her secret? Chances are it has something to do with the Kimpton philosophy, which reinforces a familial feeling between the hotel and corporate staff.
“Although we’re a nationwide company, we’re still small enough to really feel like a family. We could call the CEO and it would be okay—it’s not this far, unreachable person,” said Taylor.
Such staff treatment inevitably results in a trickle-down effect. When the staff is treated well, then so are the guests. Erica Horwitz, marketing coordinator for Palette, the Madison Hotel’s newest culinary addition, agreed. Horwitz, 30, recognizes the importance of involving the staff in the promotion process by listening to their ideas. “Servers are our best marketing team. If you believe in your product, if you’re proud of your product, you’re going to sell it.”
Service isn’t the only key to a hotel restaurant’s success. Palette’s potential indubitably lies in its marketing strategies. A few words with Horwitz and it becomes abundantly clear that great things lie ahead for the restaurant. Discussing Palette’s location, she pointed to the window and said, “Looking outside, when I interviewed here—we have National Association of Home Builders, National Geographic, Washington Post—I thought, ‘We need to be there,’” she recalled.
The desire to attract residential and business clientele is what sets these restaurants apart from your average hotel eatery. “Kimpton focuses on keeping the restaurant separate from the hotel, so that the restaurants get their own focus and the hotel has their own,” Taylor explained. “Too often, hotel and restaurant blend so that you don’t really get a difference.”
Matthew Keeler, manager of Finn and Porter—scheduled to open Oct. 6 along with the new Embassy Suites Hotel in downtown Washington, D.C.—also considers a restaurant space independent of a hotel. “We look at a property and ask, ‘Would we put a restaurant here if the hotel wasn’t here?’” Indeed, the goal for many of these restaurants is to establish themselves as “free standing”—separate from the hotel to which they are attached. But the process varies in how each business approaches the idea.
Keeler, 28, believes it is the concept that ensures outside business. “Creating a concept that applies to many different things, one that is unique,” said Keeler, whose philosophy is a bit opposite to Horwitz’s. “I believe it’s [marketing] word of mouth,” Keeler said. “We don’t do a lot of ads but having a good [public relations] person definitely helps.”
Finn and Porter has a knack for spreading the word despite the lack of paper advertising, and Keeler and his staff have no problem living up to a “unique concept.” Every few months, the restaurant hosts a “Winemaker’s Series Dinner,” where guests are treated to a lecture by the individual responsible for creating the wines they sip during a six-course meal.
But many restaurants in the area hold tasting dinners where wine is paired with food tailor-made especially for the event. What makes Finn and Porter’s dinner unique? “We try to make it personal,” explained Keeler. “We have the winemaker sit at each table for each course to encourage guest interaction.”
Horwitz wholeheartedly believes in guest interaction, and Palette’s reputation has been built on creating business relationships with members of the community. Organizations such as the District’s Chamber of Commerce, Old Town Trolley Tours and even neighboring hotel concierges all get to know Horwitz’s name and the restaurant she proudly represents. The staff at Palette is also trained to recognize regulars and remember favorite drinks or names. “I tell them, ‘Just remember something,’” Horwitz said.
When asked about what ensures repeat business from local clientele at Kimpton properties, Taylor agreed: “It has a lot to do with how the staff treats each guest that comes in. Bar none, it’s the service.”
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